


My Soul to Take

by ArkStationsLibrary



Category: From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series
Genre: Evil! Kate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-07
Updated: 2016-05-07
Packaged: 2018-06-06 21:47:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6771520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArkStationsLibrary/pseuds/ArkStationsLibrary
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An evil has taken root in Kate Fuller. And only Seth Gecko can cleanse her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	My Soul to Take

They wanted to bury her body. In fact, Seth insisted on it. He made Richie drive him to the place where she’d died. By that godforsaken well where Carlos shot her. It’s only been a day but the body is gone. “What the fuck, Richard?” Seth demands as they get out of the car. “You told me she was here.” 

Richie scratches his head. “I’m just as confused as I am. Maybe her brother moved it.” 

“No. Scott left. I saw him go. Told me I should bury her in Bethel. They’ve got a family plot there.” 

“We’ve got to find her.” 

“Seth, she’s----“ 

He puts his hand up. “Don’t say it, Richard. I know what she is. Just help me find her. We took everything from her. The least we can do is make sure her final resting place is at home.” 

“Alright, brother. I’ll get my people on it.” 

For his effort, Richie does. And Seth drives town to town. Searching for anything. Though it’s hard to know what to really look for. He checks morgues mostly. It’s depressing work. Until, finally, one night something strange happens. 

He’s sitting at a bar getting drunk off his ass. Trying to forget the hell he’s been through. Forget her. He can almost hear her any voice saying, “C’mon Seth. Get up. I put a stake through my Dad’s heart down there and you don’t see me drinking.” 

He chuckles miserably, swirling the ice in his now almost empty glass. “Yeah well Kate, you didn’t have as many sins as me to atone for to make you want to forget.” 

“I’m hurt. I’d never want to forget you after everything, partner.” The hair on the back of his neck stands up. He’s gone bat shit crazy. Because he can’t actually have heard her voice. Kate Fuller is dead. But he’s aware of someone sitting on the bar stool next to him. And a hand gently squeezing his shoulder. A hand he knows as well as his own. 

Seth swallows. “Kate?” 

Her face comes into view. “Did you miss me?” she smiles at him. 

She looks exactly the same as the day that he abandoned her on that empty, dark road. Innocent, sweet, and alive. “Kate?” he rasps again still finding it hard to believe. 

Kate reaches up to trace the side of his cheek making him grip his glass of scotch. “I’m sorry for the scare. I was kind of disoriented when I woke up. And I wasn’t sure who to trust. Getting shot can do that to a person.” 

Seth licks his lips. “But you’re supposed to be dead.” 

She smiles. “God works in mysterious ways. He saved me, Seth. I remember feeling the bullet go through me but some kind of power took hold. And before I knew it I was awake.” 

“Jesus Christ! I mean….” He wants to hug her. To hold her tight and never let go. That horrifying moment back in Malvaldo’s office when he thought he’d never see her again had made him half crazed. Shit. He’d just spent a month looking for a corpse. 

Seth feels numb. All he can do is stare at her wide-eyed. Finally, he reaches out to touch her face. Just to make certain she is there. That he’s not hallucinating. When it becomes clear that Kate is flesh and bone, he wraps his arms tightly around her. “Don’t ever scare me like that again. You got that, partner?” 

Kate winces. “Death grip. Seth! Death grip.” 

“Don’t care, sweetheart.” He hugs her tighter. 

They spend the night in the bar talking and laughing. Until finally the bar tender kicks them out. “C’mon. Let’s go home,” he says. 

Kate squints. “But we don’t have a home. You know that whole being ramblers and thieves thing kind of makes it a little impossible.” 

Seth grins. “That’s where your wrong. Richie might have pulled a dick move aligning himself with Malvado but there are a few perks to us taking over the joint.” 

“Like?” 

He smiles like a kid in a candy store. “You’ll see. C’mon.” Seth opens the car door for her. Then they drive off into the night. Almost like when they drove off together after The Twister. 

Part of taking over Jack Knife Jed’s means taking over all of Malvaldo’s resources. It’s unclear to Seth and Richie what all of that includes but they do know it involves house. 

A large mansion that sits on a mountain overlooking the desert. Once owned to a family that made their money in oil, Malavaldo killed them for fun. Then made the place his own. Or at least that was what the creepy culebra doorman with the scratch on his eye had informed the brothers. Not that he was going to tell Kate that. 

As he pulls up the driveway to the house, Seth can’t help but look at her again. “It’s not the toaster I owe you,” he says, “but it is a bit better.” 

Kate stares wide eyed at the place.

Seth grins a little as he watches her look. 

The front is surprisingly green. Lots of fresh, cut grass with a fountain in the middle. Texas Ash trees and palm trees line the drive. The house itself is a classically styled estate with a Mediterranean feel. The walls are venetian plaster. Not that he really cares about any of that. 

“What do you think?” he says. 

“I think you’ve done great for yourself,” Kate says, “and I’m glad you made up with Richie.” 

Seth grips the steering wheel. “I wouldn’t go that far.” 

Kate shakes her head. “You wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t. You two can fight it all you want. But you need each other. Just like me and Scott.” 

He winces at the mention of her brother. “Speaking of, Scotts kind of gone. We’re not sure where he went. He just said that he needed some time to himself. I thought it was probably for the best. I didn’t want him getting caught up in Richie’s mess.” 

Kate’s face falls. 

“Is that okay?” Seth asks. 

She grips the door handle. “It’s fine. He shouldn’t be around here. Not for what we’ve got to do.” 

Seth tilts his head to the side. “What do you mean, for what we’ve got to do?” 

“The well, Seth. We’ve got to make sure that it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. But we also have to find a way to get it to culebra’s. It’s been opened now. I feel it. If there’s a way to use that power to keep the culebras from killing think of the good that we can do with it.” 

“So what are you saying, Kate?” 

“We’re going to market the blood,” Kate replies, with a grin, “with an endless supply we’ll be able to control all of those snakes. They’ll never be able to hurt anyone ever again.” 

There’s a glint in her eyes that he’s never seen before. They’re not the green he knows so well. They’re red. Blood red. Kate reaches out to grab his hand. “C’mon. Are you going to show me this place or what?” 

“Right. Right.” 

Richie has just come down the stairs as the two of them enter. “Seth, where the hell have you been? I was about to send a search party out for your ass---“He pauses as he takes in the sight of Kate standing in the walk way. Richie grabs hold of the stair railing to keep from stumbling down them. “You’re dead.” 

Kate glares. “No thanks to you.” 

“Kate, I…. I didn’t mean….” 

“I don’t care about that. We’ve got things to discuss Richie. Like how about we are going to make this blood well profitable for us.” 

Richie glances at Seth. “You sure this is Kate?” 

Seth shrugs. “She did once come up with a heist to rob an entire market blind and chainsaw a culebra in half.” 

Richie squints. “Alright, Kate. Step into my office.” 

In offices that formally belonged to Malvaldo, Kate walks to the desk where she pulls out a map. Marked in red marker making a five pointed star are several Jack Knife Jed’s restaurants. “These locations haven’t been built yet,” Kate explains, “that’s what the money was for. We’re going to branch out, boys. We’ll start with these five but then using the trucks that were supplying the flesh business we package the blood and sell it through the bars. And not just ours.” 

 

“Franchises?” Richie suggests. 

“Franchises will be too easy to track. No, we’ll give them different names. It will make it easier for tax purposes and no one will connect them.” 

The brothers glance at each other. “I think she’s been around us too long,” Richie remarks.   
Kate smiles. “I’ve been around your brother too long.” 

Seth can’t help but feel a little bit proud. Even if there’s something about the whole thing that gives him bad vibes. Or that he’s not happy about Kate’s brilliant, green eyes having been taken over by that thing. But if it means that Kate is alive, that he doesn’t have to bury her, he supposes he’s okay with that. 

“What do you say, Seth?” Richie asks looking hopefully at him. “You did say Jack Knife Jeds was a Gecko brothers joint.” 

He hangs his head trying not to let his expression show. “Fuck if I know. But if Kates in, I’m in.” 

Rumors about Malvaldos death and Richie taking over spread almost as quickly as the knowledge of the blood well being released. No advertising is necessary. The culebras come to Jack Knife Jeds like parish members to a church. 

Kate controls the shipping and receiving of the blood. It is all bottled and packaged straight from the well. Somehow, she keeps Richie in place. He oversees the finance’s and doesn’t scowl when the culebra’s refer to Kate as “boss”. 

Because that’s what she’s become. With a curt nod to any of them, they do her bidding. 

There hasn’t been much time for talking since she came back. Although Seth doesn’t know that their talking would do much good. She’s become obsessed with keeping the Bloodwell thriving. And the Culebra’s in order. 

It doesn’t even feel like Richie’s in charge. Which Seth supposes he should be grateful for. He doesn’t have to keep his little brother in line. 

But he feels like maybe he should keep Kate in line instead. 

The first time he becomes aware that Kate might not be Kate happens on a trip to Arizona. They have another place similar to Jack Knife Jeds. Although it’s called The Armadillo instead. The drive is two days. The two switch drivers every few hours. 

“Hey, you hungry?” Seth asks about several hours in. “We could stop. Get a bite to eat. I think I saw a Big Kahuna Burger sign a few miles back. It’s got to be close.” 

Kate shakes her head. “I’m fine.” 

“Okay. Well, let me know when you get hungry. We’ll stop. Even if it’s just gas station junk or whatever.” 

She smiles and stares straight ahead. Like she’s focused on something that he can’t see. He tries to remember the last time that Kate ate anything. Or that Kate slept for that matter. And his gut feels like it’s been tied in knots again. The power of the blood well might be inside of her. But she’s still Kate isn’t she? 

He would know if it weren’t her. 

He spent three months with her. He walked through hell with her. There’s no way he can’t tell when Kate Fuller isn’t Kate Fuller. Except… 

Except he’d been so relieved to find her alive that he hadn’t stopped to ask questions. He’d just accepted that she was back. Everything else had become unimportant. The only thing he’d been able to think of was that he’d get to apologize. That he’d get the chance to take care of her like he should have. Except he hadn’t really even done that. 

He blinks, trying to keep himself awake. If he falls asleep the dream that he’s been living in might just become a waking nightmare. 

“You up, sleepy head?” Kate’s voice wakes him. 

Seth wakes up sitting in the passenger seat. He has no memory of the two of them switching over. But they’re in Arizona at The Armadillo. “Yeah. Yeah. I’m up.” He gets out of the car, groaning as he stretches. He aches in places he didn’t think possible. 

But Kate gets out of the truck looking refreshed. There’s no sign at all that she’s been in a truck for six hours. 

“Stay here,” Kate says, “I’m going to go let them know the shipments here.” 

“How about I go inside with you?” 

She pats him on the shoulder and smiles. “Someone’s got to protect the product.” Kate saunters into The Armadillo like she owns the place. Which, he supposes, since she controls the blood supply she does. 

The gnawing feeling he has in his gut that he got from earlier is still there. Kate’s not Kate. He doesn’t want to admit it but that’s where his mind goes. 

That’s when he hears screaming. Grabbing his gun, he runs inside. He watches in horror as Kate bites down on a culebra’s neck. Blood spurts everywhere getting on the two other culebras standing nearby. “Jesus Christ!” he exclaims making Kate look up from her meal. 

Her face is bloodied. She looks up at him with a wide grin. “I don’t think we’ll have to stop to eat later. Don’t forget about that shipment, Seth. Someone’s got to watch that. Don’t want it getting into the wrong hands now right?” 

He swallows hard. “I’m not going anywhere. What the hell was that?” 

Kate steps over the remains of the culebra that she has ripped apart. She walks towards him and does something she’s never done before. She kisses him, regardless of the culebra blood staining her lips. And Seth can’t deny that the kiss isn’t exactly what he’s wanted for a long time. What he thought about all of those nights in Mexico with her sleeping in the bed across from him. 

But the person kissing him right now isn’t Kate. 

It’s some weird, mutated version of her. A version that’s been corrupted by the blood well. The Kate he knew would never do the things she was doing. 

Seth pulls away. “No mas, Kate. You’re going to tell me what the hell that was. You’re going to tell me everything about this little blood well and why you’re so obsessed with it.” 

Kate frowns. “Alright then. You asked for it Seth. But we can’t talk here. Let’s go to my office.” 

“We’ve never been here before. You don’t have an office.” 

Kate grins. “There’s always an office for the person that controls everything. Even if they haven’t been here before. All establishments have to be prepared. You never know when the boss is going to show.” 

She takes him by the hand and leads him to the back. The office is much like Malvaldos. Underground, in hues of green, with snakes decorating the walls. Once down there Kate says, “Just remember…. the blood well keeps me alive, Seth.” 

 

“Is that why your eyes are red? Because that thing is in you?” 

“Yes,” she answers, “but you knew all of this. How did you think I survived being shot, Seth? This isn’t a bad thing. This is a miracle. What we’re doing is a miracle.” 

“What the hell do you call eating other culebras, Kate?” he demands. “I thought the point of this was to stop from creating more monsters. Not to make another kind.” 

“The blood calls for more blood. They’re not exactly innocent, Seth. And don’t try to pretend like you’re some friend to them now. I know that the sight of Richie still makes your blood crawl.” She grins. “I can feel it. The way I can feel how much you want me.” 

He hangs his head. “You don’t know shit.” 

She reaches up to hold his head in her hands. “I know plenty. There’s no saving me, Seth. This is the way things have to be. I need the blood well to survive. And the blood well gives me a thirst for culebra blood too. Unless you want me dead….” 

He looks up at her. “Don’t you fucking dare say that.” 

Kate grins. “That’s my partner.” 

He winces. “Can you really live with this? The darkness inside of you?” 

“I’ve been living with it, Seth. You’ve seen me do it. I can survive. The only question is will you still love me even though I’m different?” 

He clenches his jaw. He’s not sure how to answer that. He saw her rip apart someone. Yes, the culebra’s weren’t exactly human. But that didn’t mean they deserved to be treated like they were garbage. 

“I can’t do this,” he says, “you take care of this shit.” 

Seth doesn’t see Kate for six months. But it’s impossible not to hear about her. Rumors about a new miracle drink spread everywhere. People say that it contains healing powers. Of course what the idiots don’t know is that it’s the blood of thousands of innocent souls. 

They don’t know that it’s feeding culebras. 

Or keeping her in control of them. 

What Seth does know is that he needs to find a way to get the bloodwell out of Kate. So he goes to the one person he knows will be able to take it from her. Santanico. 

The two of them meet at a roadside diner not far from the former Jack Knife Jeds. 

“You get it, Snake Queen?” Seth asks. 

Santanico nods. “She’d better be worth it, Seth. I had to pull in a lot of favors to find Kate’s soul. It wasn’t easy either. Innocents are particularly difficult to trace especially these days.” 

“Just give it. You’ve got no room to complain after the shit that I did for you.” 

The culebra rolls her eyes then pulls out a mason jar from her black, leather purse. Inside is a glowing, white light. 

Seth looks from it to her again. “How can I be sure it’s Kates?” 

“I tracked it with the cross necklace you gave me. You were right about it being one of her most prized possessions. It wasn’t hard to find her soul after that. Someone took it from the blood well. They were trying to sell it on the black market.” 

“Thanks. I owe you one.” 

Santanico shrugs. “Consider us even. I did control you with my mind once.” She smiles. “That’s a lot of trouble to go through for one girl, Seth. A girl you kidnapped no less.” 

Seth mutters something unintelligible under his breath. Then he grabs the mason jar and puts it in a messenger bag he brought with him along with his gun. He gives Santanico a curt nod before leaving. And it isn’t long before he pulls up to Jack Knife Jeds. 

He hasn’t been there in ages. But the place that was once road hog heaven is now filled with culebras. Richie is making the rounds when he spots him. 

“Brother!” he says as he makes his way towards him. He pat’s him on the shoulder. “What are you doing here? I thought you were off finding yourself again or some bullshit.” 

“I’m here to see Kate.” 

Richie grins. “She’s in the back. She’ll be happy to see you.” 

Seth makes his way to the back of the restaurant. He grips the messenger bag he’s been carrying tightly. It’s now or never. 

There’s the sound of clapping as soon as he walks through the door. Kate stands there wearing all black with hair as blood red as her eyes. There’s barely any sign of the girl that he once knew. Including the glint of mischief in her eyes. 

Kate smiles. “This is a nice performance, Seth. Coming in there like that intent on being a hero. Funny since that’s the opposite of your protocol. What was it you said when you kidnapped my family? Oh yeah.” 

With a wave of her hand, she sends him flying. Kate stands over him with a sneer on her face. “Everybody should have their hero switch on the off position!” 

Seth grunts from where he is sprawled out on the floor. “C’mon Kate. This isn’t you. This is that thing inside of you!” 

Kate laughs. “That’s where you’re wrong, Seth. This is exactly who I am. This is what you made me. What did you expect to happen after a teenage girl lost her entire family? Lost her life? Then went on the run with a criminal? Did you think that we’d ride off into the sunset together and everything would be okay?” 

Seth tries to push himself up again but Kate forces him to stay on the floor using her powers. He feels his throat tightening, as he tries to gasp for air. “The Kate I know believes everyone has some good in them. Even a criminal like me.” 

Kate waves her hand again making his throat tighten even more. The door swings open revealing Richie. “Everything okay in here----“ 

“Shut up, Richard,” Kate snaps, and she focuses her attention on him briefly. Knocking him to the ground again. 

It gives Seth just enough time to push himself up. Only to have the mason jar containing Kate’s soul roll out from the bag he’s been keeping with him. But Kate is too busy making sure Richard stays put to pay attention to him. 

“What the hell, Kate?” Richie says as he pushes himself up off of the ground. “We’re supposed to be business partners. You don’t knock your business partner to the ground.” 

Kate rolls her eyes, waves her hand once more, and knocks him back on the floor causing him to grunt in pain. “You were never my business partner, Richie. You were just a means to an end. Malvaldo handed the keys to the kingdom to you for some idiotic reason. I just needed to keep you around long enough to keep the culebra’s in line. But I don’t need that anymore. I’m stronger and more powerful than you will ever be.” 

Richie is still pinned down to the ground. And Kate is focused on choking him with her mind. Seth goes to grab the mason jar. But his hands are trembling from his nerves. And the jar drops for a second time. 

The glass shatters. The white light that is Kate’s soul drifts upwards. 

Her attention shifts from Richie up to the ceiling. She becomes transfixed by the light. Her soul finds her body and enters through her chest. Kate lets out a shrill scream that echoes throughout the building. Seth can only watch as her body convulses, rejecting the blood well. It shoots like a geyser from her mouth, hitting the ceiling. 

Then, suddenly, there’s the sound of sobbing. “Seth?” 

She’s covered in blood but her eyes are green again. He rushes to her. “Kate!” 

Seth pulls her to him, hugging her fiercely. His suit will be blood stained but he doesn’t care. “It’s okay,” he says, “it’s okay.” 

They stay hugging like that for an impossibly long time. Until, finally, Kate stands on her tip toes and kisses him on the cheek. "Thanks." 

"Anytime, partner."


End file.
